Just when you think the Toronto Maple Leafs' coaching search couldn’t get any more interesting, Elliotte Friedman throws another name into it.
On the latest episode of 32 Thoughts the Podcast, he brought up the idea that if the Vegas Golden Knights don’t bring back John Tortorella for next season, Toronto could end up looking at him. Not something that really felt like part of the conversation not long ago, but things change quickly with coaching situations.
Here's what Friedman had to say:
"“A lot of people seem to think it's going to be Ryan Craig, but, you know, with Tortorella, there are two teams that have coaching openings right now. You know, Edmonton, we'll talk about that in a couple of minutes, but so does Toronto. And I'd be curious to see if Vegas doesn't keep them; would there be any chance Toronto would think about it or Edmonton?”"Friedman - 32 Thoughts
Tortorella could be the reason the Maple Leafs haven’t named a head coach yet
It does kind of line up with how the Maple Leafs have been handling this whole process. John Chayka has talked about not rushing anything, just going through candidates and seeing how everything settles. If they were waiting on the Stanley Cup Final to get a clearer picture, then that part is done now, at least.
Tortorella was hired by Vegas late in the season after Bruce Cassidy was let go. Took over a veteran team and somehow pushed them all the way to Game 6 of the Final before losing to Carolina. After that, he didn’t really give a firm answer on what comes next, just that he wanted to coach again.
Vegas is still not totally settled either. There’s been more talk about internal options like Ryan Craig and maybe just going in a slightly different direction behind the bench. If that ends up being the case, Tortorella probably becomes available pretty quickly. Which could make things interesting for the Maple Leafs
Is Torts the right fit behind the bench?
Chayka has already gone through a long list of names, somewhere around 50 names. The list has reportedly been narrowed down to five names, including Joe Pavelski, Patrick Roy, and Jay Woodcroft. There have also been reports about Dallas Eakins and John Gurden possibly being on that list. Another name that is out there is the aforementioned Cassidy.
Regardless, if Vegas does let Tortorella go, it wouldn't be surprising if Chayka does his due diligence and inquires about his interest level.
The most challenging part of all this is to figure out if Tortorella would be the right coach to lead them into the new era of Maple Leafs hockey. Yes, he had success in Vegas, with a very experienced, veteran group. Would that same thing happen with the Maple Leafs? They have a good number of veterans, but they don't necessarily play the same way that Vegas does.
So the question is, would Tortorella be another Craig Berube, or would he help bring out the best in this team? Only time will tell, if he is the one that Chayka and the Maple Leafs decide to hire.
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